Bis-Alkylureido Imidazole Artificial Water Channels
Dan-Dan Su1,2, Sébastien Ulrich2, Mihail Barboiu1
1Institut Européen des Membrane, Adaptive Supramolecular Nanosystems Group, University of Montpellier, ENSCM, CNRS, Place Eugène Bataillon, CC 047, 34095, Montpellier, France.
Abstract:
Nature creates aquaporins to effectively transport water, rejecting all ions including protons. Aquaporins (AQPs) has brought inspiration for the development of Artificial Water Channels (AWCs). Imidazole-quartet (I-quartet) was the first AWC that enabled to self-assemble a tubular backbone for rapid water and proton permeation with total ion rejection. Here, we report the discovery of bis-alkylureido imidazole compounds, which outperform the I-quartets by exhibiting ≈3 times higher net and single channel permeabilities (107 H2 O/s/channel) and a ≈2-3 times lower proton conductance. The higher water conductance regime is associated to the high partition of more hydrophobic bis-alkylureido channels in the membrane and to their pore sizes, experiencing larger fluctuations, leading to an increase in the number of water molecules in the channel, with decreasing H-bonding connectivity. This new class of AWCs will open new pathways toward scalable membranes with enhanced water transport performances.
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